Buying motives – Do you know why do they buy?

Buying motives often overlap. Suppose you just purchased a new jacket. What was your dominant motive in making that purchase? Maybe you bought the jacket for comfort; you expect it to keep you warm. You might have bought it simply because it has a style or label that you’re proud to wear or show your friends.

Maybe you bought it because the colour makes your eyes look bluer, or it makes you look taller and thinner, or in some way it makes you feel good about yourself — it gives you emotional satisfaction. Maybe you bought the jacket for all three reasons merged together: It’s comfortable, you’re proud to own it, and it makes you feel good about yourself.

As a salesperson you might think that people buy your product or service because of the reasons you give them. On the contrary, people buy not because of your reasons, not your company’s reasons but for their very own reasons.

These reasons may not seem sensible, logical or even intelligent to us but they seem that way to the prospect.

Broadly speaking we can categorise buying motives into Rational and Emotional reasons.

Rational buying motives

Economy of purchase

Economy of use

Efficient profits

Increased profits

Durability

Accurate performance

Labour-saving

Time-saving

Simple construction

Simple operation

Ease of repair

Ease of installation

Space-saving

Increased production

Availability

Complete servicing

Good workmanship

Low maintenance

Thorough research

Desire to be unique

Curiosity

Emotional buying motives

Pride of appearance

Pride of ownership

Desire for prestige

Desire for recognition

Desire to imitate

Desire for variety

Safety

Fear

Desire to create

Desire for security

Convenience

Desire to be unique

Curiosity

It is extremely important that you uncover these underlying buying motives because the prospect in all likelihood will not come out and tell you. They are sometimes only vaguely aware of their motives themselves.

The primary reason people don’t readily admit their buying motives is because it would make them feel too exposed. Psychologists tell us that people feel vulnerable admitting, even to themselves, what they care about, desire or fear on a deep, emotional level.

Tailor your approach to the right motives and your sales will definitely increase.

6 Comments

Hi Ron,
Sorry for the delay… we just had a baby boy few weeks back and its has been a more than two full time jobs… I just read your comment on linkedin.

Ron, I completely agree with you. Understanding buyer behavior is quite an art. Not many companies understand as “why” people buy… they may have a good product and consumer might “like” the product. As you say “like” does not mean you buy, and buy does not mean that you love the product.

What I normally look for is related purchase patterns. Try to understand as what other purchase patters emerge in specific segments. As you said we need to dig deeper to understand buyer behavior.

[…] Buying motives – Do you know why do they buy? | Loyalty …Feb 26, 2010 … Buying motives often overlap. Suppose you just purchased a new jacket. What was your dominant motive in making that purchase? Maybe you … […]

Soon after study a handful with the content material within your internet internet site now, and that i genuinely such as your method of blogging. I bookmarked it to my bookmark internet internet site list and are checking back soon. Pls appear into my internet site as effectively and tell me what you believe. 825745